First Trip on a Plane

Our first family vacation was a success!! With our flights being delayed both there and back, coming back at 1030 at night and all the schedule changes and meeting of new people, William did just great! We found out that he loves turbulence. While I was freaking out and trying not to be sick Will was laughing and smiling at the "ride". Will has visited with Chris parents when he was about 3 weeks old, and he Skypes with them on a regular basis as well, so it was nice to see him take to them well. He was about to meet a lot of Chris extended family as well. It was a bit overwhelming for Will but he adapted well.  Our trip was very laid back as we were by a lake the entire time. Will "drove" his first boat, met his new BFF's Dalilah and John, ate Zorbaz for the first time and loved it and did many other things while visiting MN. Of course being a photographer we did tons of mini photo sessions. With tall grass and vintage cars, buildings and signs all over the place I could not resist! All in all we had a great time visiting, however I am in no hurry to go on another trip with him any time soon. It is sooo much work! I need a vacation from my vacation!

 

driving the boat with uncle Tim

visiting with great grandma Helen

generation photo: Bill, Chris and William

Me and my baby boy by Loon Lake

hangin' at Zorbaz



10 Months Old

Only 2 months left of baby life. It is so sad how fast time flies with this boy. This month was filled with lots of new things and I just love watching him grow and learn.

We officially have a crawler! He started with the "military crawl" and after leaving him with my parents for a weekend and going though "Nana boot camp" he came out a crawler. He is also learning to stand. With just a little bit of help he can stand up and hold on to a chair or his crib. With this new found movement and freedom he has also out grown his baby toys and has moved on to toys with toddler appeal. We loves blocks and wooden puzzles. He has always loved music so of course any toys that make music sounds he also just loves playing with. He only takes a bottle at night before bed and now uses a sippy cup the rest of the time. He also has become a huge water drinker just like his parents. He probably drinks about 8-16 oz of water a day. He is also starting to move out of the baby food stage and into the table food stage. He also has really been enjoying a few Gerber snacks. Along with the new eating habits he has FINALLY broke through with 3 more teeth. He has had a rough time teething over the last 2 months or so and 3 of the 4 top teeth finally came through.

We will be taking our first family vacation to MN in a few days. This will be William's first plane ride. I am a little scared and nervous for how it will go. We have packed lots of toys, movies and other distractions to help us out for the traveling. Wish us luck!

 



9 Months Old

Only 3 more months left of having a baby. I am so sad that the time goes by so fast. I can't stand it! In 3 months he will be ONE and a TODDLER! Will has been doing so many new things since last month, his independence is really starting to come through! It started with him finally holding his bottle on his own. He grabs it right from you as if he's saying "I want to do it!" and holds it to feed himself. He also started to sit up on his own. The first time he did it I had just put him down for his nap in his crib. I came downstairs with the monitor and I looked at him, he was laying down getting ready to go to sleep. I checked again in about 10 minutes and he was sitting straight up! The first thing I thought was "who's in his room!!??". I went upstairs so fast and opened the door and he was just sitting in his crib smiling at me. I laid him back down and went downstairs again. This time I just watched the monitor and there it was. He sat up all on his own. What a big boy! Of course now this means that crawling is just around the corner! Time to baby proof! He almost fell off the bed once as well. I had just changed his diaper and had walked about 4 steps away to wash my hands and I was watching him slowly sit up and turn himself to face me and there he went...over the edge. I ran and caught him about half way down. Scared the crap outta me!

He still is wearing clothing anywhere between 12-24 months, size 4 diapers and he just started to not mind wearing hats. He has lost 1 of his 3 naps he was taking during the day. He still sleeps about 10-12 hours at night, straight through and then takes about 2 2 hour naps during the day. As far as food goes I have officially stopped breast feeding. He stopped breast feeding a few months back but I was still pumping and giving him breast milk in bottles. I have just recently, in the past couple of weeks, have gone from pumping about 14-16 ounces daily to about 1 ounce a day. Its a nice freedom for me but I feel bad that I couldn't make it the full year for him. I did the best I could and I just keep saying only 3 months on straight formula and then he can have whole milk. I really didn't want to give him formula at all but I was lucky enough to give him breast milk for almost 9 months. He is also exploring more with table food. He has had some chicken and beef as well as some pasta and watermelon. He still mostly eats homemade baby food and oatmeal but every once in a while he gets something that we eat as a little treat. He loves homemade lemonade, which  is funny to me. I was obsessed with lemons and lemonade when I was pregnant with him. He still only has his 2 bottom teeth, but he has been teething for about 2 months off and on, so I am hoping he gets them soon! Teething the 2nd time around has been much harder for him. He has had a couple of days with a fever but mostly he just doesn't feel good and only wants mommy.

Next month we are going up to MN to spend about 5 days with Chris family. It will be interesting to see how he behaves on the plane. It will be nice for him to visit with the family he doesn't get to see that often. I am excited to take photos of those interactions. We also just bought a house and will be closing on it in less than a month. It's all very exciting but very stressful to be traveling so much in July and then moving on top of that. But I will say that I cannot wait to move and decorate our new home.



8 Months Old

8 months old. 8 months! I just cannot believe how fast the time goes. Not much has changed from 7 months. He still is wearing 12-18 month clothes but can wear up to 24 months. He is still eating 3 meals a day and has 1 large bottle both in the morning and before he goes to bed. We started supplementing with formula maybe about 3 weeks ago. He gets 12 oz of breast milk a day and 12 oz of formula.  He is still wearing size 4 diapers and still sleeping through the night, going to bed between 6-8pm and waking between 5:30-7am. He is starting to lose 1 of his 3 naps he takes during the day but it does not seem to be affecting his mood or schedule what so ever. He is starting to eat a few more new foods. Chris still makes all of his baby food which has been fruits and vegetables. He has started to eat meat and some cheese but mostly it has been tastes from our own plates. He still enjoys snacks like Cheerios and Mums but has been trying graham crackers as well. Summer has officially started in Arizona so we have been spending lots of our weekends in the pool. Will just loves floating around in his little boat! He just loves the water! He still is sitting just fine on his own and of course rolling around like crazy. He can move himself in a circle either on his belly or sitting to turn and look at whatever catches his attention. We are working on standing but that only happens when he is in the mood. There have been signs of potential crawling in his near future. I guess we will see!  He laughs more and more each day and talks like crazy! He still just has the 2 front bottom teeth but with all the teething he has been going through the last month I wouldn't be surprised if more teeth ended up coming in soon. Will also had his first over night at his Nana and Opa's house. He did just fine...unlike his mother! I cried for like 5 minutes when I left him and kept getting teary eyed thinking about him the rest of the night. It was a practice run for our little adult trip to Vegas next month. I am sure I will cry even more when that happens! He is also out of his baby car seat and into a big boy car seat...already! He is so big that the doctor actually told us to move him to a bigger car seat a month ago. Of course I have been taking pictures of him like crazy...I wouldn't have it any other way! I have also been planning his birthday party as well since September will be here before you know it! We are also in the starting process of buying a home. We just got pre approved and have only barely begun to look at homes but we plan to be somewhere new in time for his 1st birthday. These next 4 months are going to fly by and my baby will no longer be a baby but a toddler! I never thought it would go by so fast, but I love watching him grow into a sweet little boy.

 



 



Our First Roadtrip

Our first road trip was an adventure alright! Chris, Will and I packed up the car and drove up north to Pinetop for a weekend getaway with our close friends The Reynolds. They have a beautiful cabin in Pinetop that we stayed at. The drive up was interesting. I sat in the back with Will and he only slept for about 1 hour of the entire ride up, which is about 3-4 hours. We stopped about half way and took a much needed break to stretch, get out of the car and eat a little something. Once we finally got to our destination Will was just fine. He slept in his own pack and play that we had brought with and slept just as good as he does at home. He enjoyed seeing all of the big tall trees and playing in the grass on the golf course. The weather was just perfect and although he was teething he was very well behaved and we all enjoyed our first getaway. Of course no trip would be complete without photos! Our drive back was a little bit better. I ended up sitting in the front and he was much less distracted and ended up sleeping half of the way. He enjoyed spending time with his Godmother Nicole and we all look forward to another visit to Pinetop!

 



7 Months Old

Will is 7 months old...7! I wish I could just freeze time and keep him like this forever. Ugh! So Will is 7 months old and currently looks like a toddler. He is weighing in at 21 lbs and 28 inches long. He is in the 85th percentile for all of his measurements. He is exactly where he is supposed to be as far as his milestones. He has been rolling around like crazy! You cannot take you eyes off of him for one second. He is also sitting on his own as well. He has been eating 3 meals daily of baby food, both vegetable and fruit, as well as oatmeal or rice cereal. He also gets about 20-24 ounces of breast milk daily. He has been snacking on Mum crackers a couple of days a week as well but mostly just on the weekends. He still takes 3 naps a day and the time ranges from 1-2 hours each nap. He sleeps through the night still in his crib and goes to bed between 630-730pm and gets up between 5-6am. I usually get up for work around the same time. I will say that it has been a DREAM to get all this sleep I have been missing back! Wonderful!!! And its all from the Healthy Sleep habits Happy Baby book that was recommended to me. Best purchase for mommy to date! He is currently wearing 12 month clothes but can fit into 18-24 month clothes...as I found out recently when trying to find something for an industrial photo session with him (the shirt he wore was 24 months and fit him just fine). He is also in size 4 diapers and according to his pediatrician he has outgrown his baby car seat and is ready for the next one. He laughs so much and talks up a storm! He is a very happy baby and I am telling you if we are this lucky the second time around (no I am NOT pregnant) I will thank GOD everyday for being the luckiest mom ever. He has also had his first try in the baby pool. He cried at first but LOVES splashing around in the water. He enjoys going to his Nana and Opa's every Sunday to visit and play. He has his 2 bottom teeth in and his top right tooth has barely started to come through. We also had our first late night visit to the doctor. We took him into Goodnight Pediatrics at midnight on a Thursday night because he had a really bad cough and it almost sounded like a bark at one point. The doctor said his lungs were clear and that all he had was some congestion sitting at the top of his lungs. His ears showed some fluid in them but no infection. Chris spent the next week adjusting him 2-3 times per day and the fluid was gone. Overall Will is a very healthy and happy baby and Chris and I could not have asked for more. This weekend we are going on our first road trip with him up to Pinetop to stay with some of our friends (his godmother) at their cabin. It should be interesting! Pics to come...as always!



First Easter

Will's first Easter was a typical Sunday hanging out at my mom's house. We enjoyed spending time with his cousins Leighan and Kennedy and also getting lots of goodies from the Easter Bunny in his Easter basket. Because he was teething we actually missed church...for the first time EVER. I couldn't believe it. Anyways we spent another wonderful Sunday with family...tradition.